Israel Army Kills Four Palestinians in Nablus, Gaza

[Scurrilous]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html?ex=1073797200&en=4409c8b72b3f9bde&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

<snip>

"Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians Saturday in the bloodiest confrontation in at least two weeks in the West Bank city of Nablus while a fourth Palestinian was killed in the Gaza Strip.

A fifth Palestinian, a 17-year-old pallbearer, was pronounced clinically dead in Nablus, after soldiers shot him in the head as he helped carry the coffin of his 15-year-old cousin, one of the three killed by the army.

Senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the killings as ``atrocities'' and told Reuters he held Israel ``fully responsible for the consequences of this escalation.'' He urged sponsors of the stalled ``road map'' peace plan -- the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia -- to do more to restore peace efforts."

[aquart]

1. The shootings were, of course, unprovoked in any way.

The Palestinians were every one of them innocent and unarmed, going about their daily business until attacked by the cruel and bloodthirsty Israelis for no reason at all.

Right? That is what you're trying to say, isn't it?

[Scurrilous]

2. Check with the IDF....

....I'm sure their official spokesman can dream up a perfectably palatable reason for shooting these men. Bon Appetit.

[Gimel]

11. It's in the NY times article

The IDF statement is in the article:

An army spokesman said the operation, the largest now under way, was intended to dismantle a terrorist network in Nablus, after 18 attempted terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians originated in the city over the last month. Thirteen of the thwarted attacks, including planned suicide bombings and shootings, were against Israelis in Israeli territory, the spokesman said. He said Saturday's shootings in Nablus, including those at the funeral procession, were in response to rock throwing and sightings of firebombs or handguns among the Palestinian youths.

Last month, Palestinian gunmen attacked Orthodox Jews making a clandestine visit to a tomb here that many Israelis believe is the burial site of Joseph, the Jewish patriarch. Seven Jews were wounded in that attack. Also last month, a suicide bomber from a village near Nablus killed four people when he detonated his explosives at a bus stop on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Nearly a quarter of the suicide bombers who have attacked Israel in the last three years have come from Nablus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/international/middleeast/04MIDE.html

[lefty_mcduff]

3. Okay - I'll bite.

Why do *you* think the incidents occured?

[Aidoneus]

4. well, they were shot in their own cities by invaders

So I guess there's more than a little truth to your obviously overblown hyperbole.. :shrug:

The 4th death in Nablus was a nice touch--shooting a guy at the funeral of his relative (killed by the IDF earlier in the day). :eyes:

[Gimel]

5. But IDF

standing at a bus stop in Tel Aviv are fair game, is that it?

Edit: to add two words.

[Aidoneus]

7. Not really..

I know what you're referencing, and I remember not giving any direct opinion at all about that except to make a point of pointing out that curious fact (I never did check back to see if that was intended or a 'lucky break' on PFLP's part). The implication in my doing so without a direct comment was probably that I approved of it, and, indeed, I did nothing either way to suggest for or against that assumption. I did think of commenting on that around an hour or two afterwards, but nobody seemed to pick up on it (and that surprised me, after the whole drama show the last time I said something truthful, I expected at least a small riot), so it was left as it was.

While I'm fine with Palestinian resistance attacks on Israeli military in the other occupied territories outside of the so-called "Green Line", I tend to disapprove of the human-bombs in Israeli cities for much the same reasons as in #3 above. It may seem somewhat trivial, but there is something inherently distasteful to me in killing people while they're just going about their day or those that are defending their homes and cities/camps (that's why the "oh, they were 'armed militants', so it's ok" line of Israeli propaganda after these invasions of Palestinian lands means exactly nothing to me). The whole "Total War" line of argument is one that I tend to not endorse in any application. I guess if Hamas was marching a column of armed men down Jabotinsky Street(***) I wouldn't have too much a problem with them being fired on, but the sort described above is a very different matter.

What do you think of shooting a guy at the funeral of his relative shot earlier in the day?

(***)--Not quite sure which "Jabotinsky Street" that I'm referring to.. there's at least 3 in major Israeli settlements that are named after that fascist ideologue that I know of--one in Tel Aviv, Netanya, and al-Quds.. but I digress.

[Aidoneus]

10. a correction & an addition

Nahariya, not Netanya.. and there appears to be a "Jabotinsky Street" in the settlement of Ramat Gan also (suburb very near to Tel Aviv). Streets named after this Founding Father seem to be a very prestigious location in whatever Israeli city it is located in, as most "footnotes" are..

[dudeness]

8. the provocation is of course, hatred..

the level of atrocities committed by both sides in this war and the cheerleading that occurs is a sad reflection on us as human beings..

[Gimel]

9. Where do you see cheer-leading?

Is it the Hamas parades? The rallies that extol violence and promise more? There are no such cheer leading in Israel. No one is claiming the "right" to kill innocent Palestinians or that it is in any way desirable or good.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. What do you expect? They have become a blood thirsty,

power hungry ME nation that is just waiting to choke on their own hubris.

I could give a shit about the religious part of it, It's the constant bullying that bothers me.

Rant over.

Flame away, I won't be back to this dungeon for months.